Express & Star

PICTURED: Inside the enormous Wiggle warehouse in Bilston

One of the Black Country's biggest new companies is already looking to expand as it celebrates the official opening of its distribution centre.

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Towering shelves loaded with goods inside the Wiggle warehouse

Wiggle, the online cycle shop, has taken over The Citadel, the 320,000 sq ft building on the Black Country New Road in Bilston, creating 150 new jobs with the hopes of hundreds more in the years to come.

The site will be handling around 15 million items a year, from racing bikes and cycle helmets to spanners and brake blocks, as well as other sporting gear.

And, after creating 150 jobs this summer – 80 per cent taken by people from across the Black Country –Wiggle is already looking at hiring more staff ready for November's Black Friday sales frenzy and the upcoming Christmas season.

A worker is dwarfed by the shelves

Operations director Nicholas Pink said: "It is very exciting to be opening our centre in Bilston, which is ahead of schedule.

"Since August 3 we have transferred £30 million of stock from our distribution warehouses in Portsmouth and we will have all of it transferred by the middle of October.

"It is a major achievement. This site is the size of four football pitches and gives us room to grow for the future."

He added: "We are here for the long term."

Operations director Nick Pink, chief executive Stefan Barden, Councillor John Reynolds and Ninder Johal, president of Black Country Chamber of Commerce, cut the ribbon

The last months have been spent installing shelving, warehousing equipment and transferring Wiggle's cycles and other products 150 miles from its former distribution centres in Portsmouth.

The company's headquarters will remain on the south coast.

Meanwhile, Wiggle is already preparing for the next stage of growth at Wolverhampton.

"We are already drawing up plans for the second phase of work, which will give us another 80,000 sq ft-100,000 sq ft of storage here.

Seemingly endless rows of shelves

"That will happen over the next 12-18 months and will also involve getting new staff trained.

"We have 150 people here at the moment but over the next 12-18 months, depending on the growth of the company, we will clearly be looking to take on more staff."

Workforce growth would grow at a similar rate to the company's sales, said Mr Pink, which was expected to be around 20-25 per cent over the next year.

"It's been a really great time for our company over the last couple of years, with the Olympics, the Tour de France in Britain and people's increasing interest in fitness and cycling as well."

The move to the Citadel, said Mr Pink, 'has been the biggest project we have ever undertaken as a business'.

He added: "And it couldn't have gone any better thanks to the support we have had from the local council and from the City of Wolverhampton College in terms of training for our new people.

"The vast majority of our new people are very local.

"They are very enthusiastic, very driven and very happy to be working for us – a lot of them are runners and cyclists.

"This has all happened in the space of a year, and now we are looking to drive sales from here, growing our brand in the UK and internationally - we currently supply 70 countries out of Bilston every day.

WOLVERHAMPTON COPYRIGHT EXPRESS&STAR TIM THURSFIELD 25/09/15 First look around the huge Wiggle premises at Citadel Logistics Centre, Wolverhampton. WITH VIDEO
Chief executive Stefan Barden

"In terms of throughput – goods coming in and being dispatched – we are handling more than 15 million a year at the moment.

"We will be having another recruiting push before Christmas, and before Black Friday in November."

Last year the cut-price deals and one-off sales of Black Friday saw around £800 million spent at shops and online in the UK.

At the official opening ceremony at the Citadel, Wolverhampton council's assets chief, Councillor John Reynolds, said: "The council has worked closely to make the company's move as smooth as possible and the regeneration of the Citadel building in Bilston is a very satisfying sight.

Staff at work

"We have supported Wiggle in terms of recruitment, with 80 per cent of its initial Wolverhampton workforce recruited from the city.

"We also hope having a company with sport as its driver will inspire people here to become more active and lead healthy lifestyles.

"Wiggle's move to this area will also add to Bilston's multi-million pound regeneration, which entails new homes, leisure and business development."

Stewart Towe, chairman of the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership, added: "We are delighted we have been able to support Wiggle to expand into Wolverhampton and look forward to working with them in the future."

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